Project Zomboid server and sandbox settings

A Project Zomboid server has two sets of rules. The server settings decide who can join, PvP, safehouses and chat. The sandbox rules decide the world itself: how many zombies, how fast they move, how much loot there is and how long a day lasts. The panel's Server Settings tab edits both, so you never have to open the files.

Before you start

The game writes its settings files on the first boot. Until then the tab shows Start the server once. Start the server from the Overview tab, wait for Your server is online in the Console, and come back.

Where each setting lives

Each world has its own pair of files, named after the World / Save Name in Startup. The Server Settings tab always edits the world that's active.

Change a setting

1. Open Server Settings and find the setting, or type its name into the search box at the top. The cards are General, PvP & safety, Safehouses & factions, Chat & voice, World & performance, Logging and Advanced, followed by the sandbox cards.
2. Change the value and press Save changes on that card. Changes on two or more cards bring up a bar at the bottom with Save all.
3. Restart the server from the Overview tab to apply it.

Some server settings reload without a restart: send reloadoptions in the Console after saving. Sandbox rules always need the restart.

The server settings people change first

With Anyone can join off, you add each player's account in the Players tab.

Sandbox recipes

The Recipes card sets every sandbox rule at once. The choice depends on your Game build:

A Build 41 server offers Apocalypse, Survivor and Builder instead.

Pressing a recipe lists every rule it changes first, and Apply and save saves them. The recipe your saved rules match is lit up. Change single rules on top afterwards. Game defaults goes back to the game's own values.

The sandbox rules worth knowing

• Zombie count, under Zombie population: from Insane to None. The population and peak multipliers below it fine-tune the numbers over time.
• Speed, under Zombie lore: Sprinters, Fast shamblers, Shamblers or Random. Sprinters change the game more than any other rule.
• Infection, Reanimation and Cognition decide how bites work, whether the dead get back up, and whether zombies open doors.
• Day length, under Time & world: from 15 minutes to 24 hours of real time per in-game day. Longer days suit groups who only play in the evening.
• XP multiplier: raises how fast skills level up.
• Loot: one row per kind of item, such as Food, Guns and Medical, plus Loot respawn. Build 42 shows these as multipliers and Build 41 as a rarity scale from None to Abundant.

Rules that only work on a new world

Starting month, Starting time, Water shut-off and Power shut-off are read when a world is made. On a world people already play, the tab says Changing it on an existing world does nothing.

To use new values for those, reset the world in the Worlds tab (it keeps your settings, mods and accounts), or switch to a new World / Save Name. Take a backup first: How to create and restore backups.